Bible Commentaries

Exodus 4:13 — "And he said, Oh Lord, Send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send." This means, "Oh Lord, send anybody but me!" Despite all that the Lord had done to encourage and strengthen Moses' faith, he still felt a great reluctance to undertake so difficult and important a mission. Note how this contrasts with the eagerness with which Moses, forty years earlier, had presented himself as the champion of Israel, thinking that perhaps in his

Exodus 4:5 — scholars to fix their guess-word YAHWEH upon this portion of Exodus could not possibly be correct. Although the purpose mentioned here for the giving of the miracle was that THEY might believe, it is also clear that God was also strengthening MOSES' faith. Two other great signs followed at once.

Psalms 42:5 — "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him For the help of his countenance." This verse, as Henry noted, finds, "Faith silencing the complaint with the assurance of good times

Jeremiah 26:24 — become governor of Judah; and "He is mentioned again in circumstances that reflect great credit upon him and his religion in 2 Kings 22:12-14."T. K. Cheyne, Jeremiah in the Pulpit Commentary, p. 564. What a wonderful service he provided here for the true faith by his faithful protection of the true prophet Jeremiah!

Matthew 17:17 — And Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I bear with you? bring him hither to me. This blanket indictment of all present, including the Twelve, especially the nine who had failed, gives an insight into the frustration

Matthew 19:20 — I yet? No wonder Jesus loved him (Mark 10:21). He was a model of moral excellence and integrity. If human righteousness could have saved anyone, this young man was already saved. Like Cornelius (Acts 10:1-6), he manifested virtue in a dissolute age, faith in an age of infidelity, and deep spirituality in an age of materialism. Most important of all, he recognized the void in his soul, that he was yet unsaved, saying, "What lack I yet?" Many in all ages, having the possessions of this young

Matthew 23:6 — by the ostentatious use of wide borders, phylacteries, etc. — these may appear to be small things, but they were the root of the Pharisees' trouble; and it is certain those same encouragements to pride have been in every age a stumblingblock to faith.

Mark 4:40 — And he said unto them, Why are ye fearful? have ye not yet faith? It is ridiculous to make a big thing out of the fact that Matthew recorded this question as taking place before the great calm. Could Jesus not have said it twice? Besides that, the oldest historical reference to the gospel of Mark stated quite

Mark 5:37 — relationship with the Lord. That relationship, however, was not predicated merely upon ability, but upon the role each of these would have in the future spread of Christianity. James would set the grand example by being the first of the apostles to die for the faith; Peter would preach the first sermon; John would be the last witness and write the fourth Gospel. Other instances in which these three were singled out for greater intimacy with Jesus were in the transfiguration and in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Mark 7:25 — amazing. She had done her homework well before appealing to the Lord for help. She prostrated herself at the Master's feet and poured out her appeal in the presence of men whom she had every reason to suppose would despise her. Great indeed was her faith!

Luke 4:27 — cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian. This was another incident from the Old Testament (2 Kings 5:1-14), this time from the ministry of Elisha; and it has exactly the same point as the one drawn a moment before from the ministry of Elijah. Naaman showed his faith in God by obeying the command of the prophet, being subsequently healed of leprosy; Naaman, of course, being another despised Gentile. There is also the inference from Jesus' mention of the many lepers in Israel that it was their unbelief which

John 1:48 — the eyes of him with whom we have to do" (Hebrews 4:13). The sacred writers made a great deal of this quality of omniscience on the part of Jesus. Even on the night of the betrayal, it was that quality in the Lord which evoked their confession of faith (Matthew 16:18-28).

John 11:40 — himself. Said I not unto thee, that, if thou shouldest believe … Where is the soul who does not need this admonition to be repeated every day of life? In every doubt or temptation, in sorrow, suffering, or in death itself, let the redeemed say in faith, "I shall see the glory of God," that is, "if I truly believe the Lord of life."

John 20:9 — out of the grave. Until that moment, they did not really know it. The impact of this miracle was great enough to overcome all prior unbelief. They did not initiate a search for the body; they now knew he was alive! Thus their conduct confirmed their faith that he had risen. Moreover, their conduct throughout life afterward never deviated from the pattern established here. In all the years to come, their every word, deed, and thought proved the absolute certainty of their belief. They went to death

John 6:35 — means the same, the living water and the bread of life being separate metaphors for one thing only, Jesus Christ. "Believeth on me …" should not be understood as an affirmation of the popular superstition regarding salvation by "faith only." See John 12:42.

Acts 17:27 — feel after him, though he is not far from each one of us. That they should seek God … The purpose of God's exalting some races or nations for a season, and then debasing them and raising up others, is revealed as a device for bringing them to faith in God. Repeatedly throughout history, nations in the ascendancy forgot God and turned their backs upon his word; whereupon God cast them down and raised up others. We may only pray that America heeds this fact before it is too late. Not far from

Acts 6:15 — and, indeed, an extraordinary phenomenon." John Peter Lange, op. cit., p. 110. Whatever it was, Paul never forgot it; nor could he ever erase from his memory the sorrow of that tragic day when the first martyr of the Christian religion sealed his faith with his blood.

1 Corinthians 2 overview — sophistry); and the mystery of God, far more wonderful than the so-called mysteries of the Greeks, could be participated in by those of genuine spirituality (1 Corinthians 2:6-16). Throughout this chapter, Paul made it clear that the glory of the Christian faith is resident in the content of the gospel and not in the manner of its presentation.

James 1:22 — exactly the teaching of Paul in Romans 2:13; and taken together with what James would write in the second chapter, it is clear enough that this epistle was written for the purpose of correcting the abuse of Paul's teaching regarding justification by faith. By this reference, James almost says, "My teaching is exactly what the apostle Paul really taught." "Not the hearers of the law, but the doers of the law shall be justified" (Romans 2:13). The passage in Romans has a primary

James 1:7 — For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord; A firm and unwavering faith in God and in Christ Jesus underlies every Christian hope, every gospel promise. Waverers must inevitably forfeit their enrollment among the saints in light. The Lord … Many current commentators make the mistake of applying these words to